Case Study Method
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The use of the case study was pioneered by Sigmund Freud in his lengthy and detailed observations with his now famous patient who helped him develop the use of free association, Anna O. Researchers use case studies for a variety of reasons and in a variety of disciplines. For example, the case study is commonly used in psychology, sociology, anthropology and many other fields-like the Harvard Business School which heavily utilizes business case studies as one of its main methods of teaching. Where the medical field is concerned, the case study is used by the physician to collect and share information. The New England Journal of Medicine offers many case studies in the weekly publication of the American Medical Association (AMA). Often these cases detail or chronicle individuals with unique conditions or symptoms that need more attention than regular conditions or symptoms by physicians. This highlights one aspect of the case study and that is its inherently personal, in-depth and unique nature. It is specifically on one individual (one group, one family, one organization, etc.) and localizes instead of generalizes results and information, unlike many other types of research, “A case study is a method used to study an individual in a unique setting or situation in as intense a manner as possible. The word unique here is critical because the researcher is interested in the existing conditions surroun
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and discusses her lifetime survival of hardships, we could very well have one researcher suggest that she has survived hardships through courage and hope, while another researcher might take her disclosure to demonstrate how a high degree of faith saw her through many harsh experiences. It would be difficult to determine or distinguish which result may be the more valid or correct one-if we can even apply the word correct to such analysis. If we cannot disprove either assessment it is impossible to determine which one is correct. Where qualitative research is concerned, there are three primary ways of validating the research, “Through innate and universal reasonableness, through a universal trial-and-error learning, and through the use of pluralistic epistemologies. In case studies, reasonableness or persuasiveness is the most important way to validate interpretations. It includes meaningful agreement with all the data in general and broader context” (Sokolovsky, 1996: 288-289).
The general and the particular are two distinctions in research. The way they are related is through representation. For example, while a part of the body like the jaw does not represent the whole animal, there is enough information in it to const
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